Dear Heath Science Students and Parents,
Welcome to 7th grade health science! I am excited about teaching you all about the human body and mind and how we use them. I will try to make the course as fun as possible so you can have fun learning, but I will still hold high expectations for you. As a Chaminade student, you are capable of great things, and I will help you develop the skills and knowledge so you will be able to reach any goals you have. I look forward to working with you this year. Below is a list of the chapters I plan on covering in the book this year. We will also have separate lessons from the book that cover the body anatomy/physiology/ailments. Let’s have a great year.
Content:
- I will teach you about the 5 aspects of health (physical, mental/emotional, intellectual, spiritual, social) as we cover various health issues.
a. Life Choices – Chapter 1
b. Know Thyself (a survey of the 5 aspects of health) – Chapter 2
c. Stress – Chapter 3
d. Families and History – Chapter 5
e. Friendships – Chapter 6
f. Diet – Chapters 8 and 9
g. Sports/Exercise – Chapter 13
h. Sex/Reproduction – Chapter 20
- In addition to this I am looking for guest speakers from your family or friends. If you know of a health professional who is willing to come into the classroom and share their work with your class, I will give you extra credit. (For example, when we are learning about eyes, if you know an optometrist, have them come and speak to your class for ~45min and you get EC).
Materials:
- Text book – Prentice Hall Health, by Pruitt, Allegrante, and Prothrow-Stith
- 2 composition notebooks (one for each semester)
- 2 inch 3-ring binder
- red pen and colored pencils will be provided in the classroom
Grades:
- 25% Tests/quizzes
- 25% Homework/Projects
- 25% Health journal (which includes lab and other in-class work)
- 15% Classroom Participation
- 10% Final Exam
While this does not necessarily tell you everything about my course, I hope it gives you some insights as to how I plan to approach this course. I have all other information regarding this course on the portal. I prefer to be contacted via email at tpendleton@chaminade-stl.com if you have any questions or comments I am usually in my room both before and after school.
Sincerely,
Tim Pendleton
Other notes from Mr. Pendleton:
My teaching philosophy connects strongly to the Esto Vir (to be a man) motto of our school. Therefore, some of the items I have listed below are “soft” rules to assist my students this year.
1. Communication is the hallmark of a good student!
n If a student of mine is having any problems with my class (getting homework done, scoring well on quizzes, etc…), I am more likely to be lenient with a student who communicates with me.
1. This means that I want to hear directly from my student why things might not be going well.
n This communication can take two forms.
1. face-to-face (which is what I prefer) or
2. e-mail
n Bottom line…Talk To Me!
n As for the parent, I prefer e-mail. I do check my voice mail, but admittedly, I am not as fast on my response time with that as I am with e-mail. If you have a time-sensitive issue, please email me your phone number and I can call you, if that is what you prefer.
2. Timeliness is important to me as well.
n As I mentioned before, I expect work to be turned in on time. But, if that is not possible, then communicating that to me BEFORE the class that it is due will go a LONG way towards a second chance.
1. This shows me that you are thinking about your work before I ask you for it.
2. When? Before school or even an e-mail from home the night before!
n Bottom line…let me know BEFORE it is due!
This is a philosophy and by no means a guarantee for any credit or even partial credit, but I share this to show you I can be reasonable. I have greater respect for any of my students any time they take responsibility for their own work (or lack there of). It is important to me that all of my students take credit for their successes as well as their failures. I look forward to teaching Health Science this year. I hope we can all work together to learn and have some fun too!